


secrets

by chadsuke



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 07:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15990560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadsuke/pseuds/chadsuke
Summary: Callum knows the truth.





	secrets

Ezran is asleep when Callum sits next to Rayla on the rock. “Do you remember how we met?” he asks, and Rayla glances at him sidelong.

“How I tried to kill you? Uh, yeah, course I do.”

He shakes his head. “Not _that._ Well, I guess sorta that. You told me you had to kill Prince Ezran… and the king.” She stiffens, next to him, and it sorta confirms what Callum was already guessing. “You said that binding’s cause of Ezran… Did you… Did you have another…?”

Rayla cannot look at him. Cannot bear to look over and see what emotion swims in his eyes, and she stares at her hands instead, focuses on their uneven colors. “Yes,” she says very softly.

She mentally begs him not to press, wishes upon every scrap of magic in this world that he will not say anything else, but the prince does not listen. “And you said that… that they fall off when it’s… done, right?”

The elf nods. “Yes,” she says again, because it feels like there’s nothing more she can say. Still, she does try. “I’m sorry. Your father… the King… he is dead.”

Callum swallows sharply, and she looks over to see tears welling up in his eyes – he hastily wipes them away. “I-“ He swallows again, breath hitching. “I thought so. I didn’t think…” He shakes his head. “I knew. I didn’t _want_ to know, but- but I knew.”

“I’m sorry,” Rayla says. “You were right not to trust me – not when that has happened.”

He shakes his head. “No. I don’t blame you. I don’t even blame the other elves. What happened…” Callum grimaces. “Lord Viren, he stopped me. I could have talked to the king, talked to… to my Dad, and told him about the egg, and maybe we could have done _something._ But Viren was the one who stole the egg and let everyone think it was destroyed, and that’s why you all came after my Dad, because of what Viren’s done.”

Viren wasn’t the one who struck the killing blow, Rayla is pretty certain, but if Callum forgives her for this she is not going to press it. “Alright,” she says. “I am… I am still sorry, though.”

Callum smiles at her, a sad little one. “Thanks,” he says. “Just… don’t tell Ezran alright, please? I don’t think he can handle that.”

Rayla reaches over to take his strange, five-fingered hand, and gives it a squeeze. He squeezes back. “Alright,” she says again. “I won’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! as always, you can find me at chadsuke on tumblr, where i take drabble requests!


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